


A Touch Of Elfroot

by CaptainRivaini



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/F, Femslash, Gen, Humor, One Shot, not so much mystery about the missing elfroot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-28
Updated: 2014-08-28
Packaged: 2018-02-15 05:06:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2216832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainRivaini/pseuds/CaptainRivaini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vivienne is getting tired of this game, she wants to know where her elfroot supply is going and she wants to know now. Inquisitor/Vivienne</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Touch Of Elfroot

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to appleschnapple for beta reading this for me. She's been a great help, and you guys should go read her fanfics on here!
> 
> Another note: Quill is not Dalish, her parents are, but she is from Tevinter, her origin can be found on my tumblr account, theinqueersitor, on my character page and in her tag. A story about her background is being written as I type this, but it will not be uploaded for a long while due to me going back to school in a few days.

Vivienne let out a distressed noise from the back of her throat as she looked into her cupboard of supplies – not that she would admit she was distressed, of course. In a keep packed to the brim of what Lavellan had assured her were the ‘ _utmost, mature, professional people to ever co-exist under a banner of the Inquisition_ ’, when in truth…

Vivienne remembered how Sera had accidentally let the chickens out of their pen and the damned, squawking things had been running around Skyhold like maniacal Templar apprentices whom had gotten their first lyrium high, squawking and squealing as much as they could whilst the servants (and Sera herself once Dorian had pushed her in the right direction) tried to catch them all before they ruined everything in their sight.

The most professional people to ever co-exist under a banner of the Inquisition indeed.

And now? Now someone had decided it would be a good idea to go through her storage cupboard and hoard all the elfroot that she had stored away, save for a single root and a few leaves that had obviously been left there as a sign of good will.

She huffed, her brow creased together as she considered the possibility of who could have taken her supplies in such a short time without her noticing. She kept her room locked at all times and whilst she knew that was hardly the most protection she could offer it, there would be no reason for simple servants to go into her stash just to get the elfroot there.

That’s when she heard the sound of squawking behind her and her back stiffened, looking over her shoulder slowly to see that the one spare chicken they hadn’t managed to find was now sitting on her lovely, velvet-cushioned armchair, looking as though he was quite at home there with how he rearranged his head to nestle further into his feathers – clearly trying to sleep.

It was then that Vivienne knew whom exactly could have done it.

* * *

 

Sera was lounging on one of the garden’s tall walls when Vivienne appeared, instantly sitting up to wave a hand at the other woman in greeting: “Hey Vivienne! Can you do me a favour? If you see Josephine asking for me, tell her I’m hiding in the kitchen instead of out here? That would be great—”

“Where have you placed my elfroot and why?” Vivienne interrupted, grateful that she was tall and her arms long enough to grab Sera by the scruff of her neck and slowly bring half of her body off the safety of the wall.

In answer Sera only grinned, the tips of her ears turning a ruddy red colour though out of mischief rather than embarrassment. It was enough to make Vivienne roll her eyes inwardly at the elf, a fellow member of the Inquisition with the maturity of a new born babe.

“No idea what you’re talking about!” Sera said with a shrug, her grin not even fading when Vivienne dragged her even more away from the wall with only her ankles digging into the wall the thing keeping her from falling completely, “I’ve been here most of the morning! Though I did see…Dorian…? No, was it Dorian? I don’t know, you shems all look the same to me…”

Vivienne usually did not go for violence, and she would not do so now even with Sera hanging half off a very tall wall and so (whilst masking her frustration as best as she could) she pushed Sera back where she had been lounging, and instead chose to regard the elf girl with a smile of her own.

Only hers? Far more deadly.

“I have learned several ways to make that answer come out of your mouth my dear, and whilst I do not approve of Bull’s… boisterous nature,” Vivienne grimaced, remembering one time when the Qunari had thrown the table up in the air with Sera still holding onto it for dear life, “I’m sure I could allow an exception this once, Bull would be very useful on helping me on what I will do if you do not tell me the truth right now.”

Sera’s eyes narrowed, her lips pursed, “You wouldn’t dare, Madame de Fer.”

Vivienne arched her brow in response, already planning out her next move as she figured out exactly where Sera would be going next. It had always been like this – if you involved yourself with the Game there was no going about it as you went along; you either had to know the next move or suffer the consequences.

Which was why she simply shook her head when Sera relented with a slouched back to the wall she had been lounging on. “Oh fine! It was Quill! Our brave, heroic elven mage who we all know butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth and – Wait? You don’t believe me! Of course it was Quill, who else could it be?”

“She left Skyhold two days before and back then my elfroot supply was packed to the brim, and besides that?” Vivienne shook her head again, eyeing Sera with complete seriousness, “My dear, the Inquisitor would not be as foolish as to risk such an ordeal of thieving from me, knowing the potential consequences that would await her.”

Quill was a slightly quirky individual that shared Vivienne’s love for fashion and magic, it was true, and Vivienne did perhaps hold a soft spot for the elven mage but it would not be enough to cloud her judgement, especially when it came to her supplies that – while not necessarily the most alluring nor special ingredients, were mandatory and helpful nevertheless, and to find her elfroot missing was suspicious.

She would have liked to accuse Dorian of doing such a thing, but their verbal sparring matches did not interest her of today, and as a matter of fact the Tevinter mage did not seem interested in herbs, medicinal or not, and to accuse him would would have meant she would have stumbled and made a mistake, something she knew he would use again in the future.

Dorian may have been from Tevinter, but he knew the Game just as well as she did, being born into it (or at least something near enough to it) after all.

Regardless of whom it could have been (not Solas either, she remarked dryly at the realization the elf was also with Quill, trudging through Ferelden like he was born – and dressed – to do so) Vivienne did not want to waste any more time than she already had, and so fixed Sera with a pointed look in order to entice her to get to the point.

Sera snorted, finally slipping off the wall in order to land next to her with her red, rubber ball already being thrown from hand to hand as it always was. Vivienne had initially seen it as a nervous tic the other woman had, but that didn’t seem to be true, in fact it was more of a distraction and she had to admire how Sera wielded that even against her – not that it would work, of course.

“Oh fine! Quill didn’t tell me to keep quiet after the second day, it was me who stole the damned leaves and roots, but only because Quill forgot to pack her own supply before she left!” Sera threw her ball up in the air to catch it again, smirking when realization seemed to dawn on the First Enchanter of Montsimmard’s face because if there was one thing about the Inquisitor that neither of them could deny…

Vivienne’s face dropped, a hand coming to her forehead to massage her temples at the searing realization that had seemed to brand a ruthless headache right to her core.

Quill had an analytical mind, an observant one unlike (so Varric would tell it) that of Champion of Kirkwall (impatient, quick to anger), yet her downfall was her forgetfulness and last minute decisions due to her forgetful nature, and if Vivienne had to count how many times the elven mage had made the same mistake before…

She turned on her heel as fast as possible, ignoring Sera’s wave and shout of goodbye in order to fuel her irritation into speeding her forward back towards her room.

A flick of her wrist and a thin piece of parchment later Vivienne found herself writing, hurriedly and in such a manner that she hadn’t realized how scribbled her writing had become until she had finished it and decided that it would be best to start again; let Quill not suspect the punishment she would be getting when she came back from the dreary little hamlet Ferelden offered them, let her take false comfort in her usual, elegant writing.

_My dearest Inquisitor,_

_There was once a man I met in Orlais whom could steal a silver in your pocket by simply whistling at you; a cheap trick, wouldn’t you agree? A trick that he knew well, however, and one that he attempted to use on me at various points in my life when I was an apprentice back in the Circle of Montsimmard._

_He did not do so again._

_I was always adept at fire spells, even as an apprentice, and the last time he had tried to fool me with his party tricks were the last time his fingers were able to bend for two weeks thereafter – incredibly unfortunate, but his bullying and thievery were over as soon as it had begun; one of my smallest accomplishments I gather, but one I value even so._

_You may have left only two days ago, but I believe that this message should be given to you in haste._

_I do not intend to be kept waiting Inquisitor._

_Yours,_

_Madame de Fer_

Once Vivienne was done she sighed, finally feeling content that the task of the culprit had been found and she would be handling it in her own way. It made it feel as though not everything was falling apart at the very least, something she could greatly respect considering what was happening all around them with this war on the world.

She checked around her room and saw that the chicken she had seen earlier was still sound asleep.

It was almost ridiculous really, that she almost wanted to let it stay there, but people would talk and with another sigh (this time one of pure exhaustion) Vivienne snatched up the letter and went to find Sera to dispose of the damned creature.

* * *

 

Her reply didn’t take long to arrive, though Vivienne had to resist the urge to bite her lip at the ‘courier’ whom was delivering it towards the area where she, Josephine and Solas were quietly eating to themselves – all three of them too tired to even consider conversation, polite though it may be.

Dorian Pavus, however, would be the death of her and when he placed the letter beside her wrist Vivienne didn’t need to look up to know he was smiling devilishly, utterly pleased with himself as usual and no doubt coming up with many assumptions on why the Inquisitor had replied so hastily to the message she had sent out.

“It is too early for a verbal sparring match,” Vivienne remarked whilst a hand moved to snatch the letter from his hand, already returning to her plate in front of her, “be on your way and be careful not to trip over your ego and ridiculous moustache as you go.”

“Madame de Fer, so tense today…” Dorian started to say, before he caught sight of her eyes moving slowly towards him, and instead coughed and bowed his head, turning on his heel in order to obtain his own breakfast from the largest table in the dining room.

Vivienne didn’t regard him with anything more than a snort. She admired Dorian (not that she would admit it to his face) and especially liked his sense of humour that was almost as embarrassing as her own humour truly, even if not quite as sharp; but today she had been waiting eagerly for the Inquisitor’s answer, even if she didn’t know why that was.

Not bothering to retire to her own private quarters Vivienne took a quick glance over the parchment given to her (inwardly rolling her eyes at the absent date that Quill had forgotten to place at the left hand corner) before she began to read, a small yet content feeling washing over her as she did so.

_Vivienne,_

_I liked your letter, it was very nice and made for great reading to pass the time! Who knew you were such a heroine Vivienne? Not that I was in any doubt!_

_Maybe I should practice that trick? Going through marshlands to find new resources and closing tears has been rather tiring, not much fun to that. Perhaps learning something else might give me some entertainment, great idea Vivienne, even Blackwall thinks so!_

_Very thoughtful of you to send this message with such an enlightening story, maybe if I can think of one of my own I’ll send you one back._

_We hope to be back to Skyhold soon once Blackwall’s business is finished, until then my favourite Madame de Fer!_

_Quill, The Inquisitor_

Vivienne pinched the bridge of her nose, placing the letter down and fixing Josephine and Solas with a small, yet steely smile that caused both of them (along with a nervous head rub from the elf) to smile right back at her, Solas in particular looking unsure on what he was to expect from her.

“Did Quill forget the date again?” Josephine asked with a fondness that made Vivienne sit up just that bit straighter, “She’s always doing it, it’s a miracle that someone so forgetful hasn’t yet blown her room up with all the experiments she does in there.”

“You can thank me for that,” Solas murmured, a faint smile on his face that seemed to express a tiredness rather than the sentiment that he was perfectly fine with whatever he seemed to be doing to stop the Inquisitor from blowing her room up in a burst of fire and lightning. It was somewhat ironic for the elf to seem so tired, since (in Vivienne’s opinion) he dressed as though he had never taken a step out of his bed in his life.

Vivienne contemplated mentioning that to him, but her mind was still wrapped around Quill’s letter and the urge stare angry, glaringly red holes into it rather than tell her companions the contents in said message.

She instead settled with saying, “A tendency to feign ignorance as well, perhaps?”

“I encourage it!” Sera shouted from the very end of the room, alerting Vivienne to just how loud her voice had become in the hall they were all eating in.

Of  _course_  Sera would encourage it.

* * *

 

“Aw, are you waiting for the Inquisitor to come back?” Sera asked from her spot on Iron Bull’s shoulders, her feet dangling carelessly and barely reaching his chest with how short the elven girl was, “it’ll be okay Vivienne, they said a few more minutes right? We can go wait in the throne room! It’s warmer there and—”

“I have decided to stand here at the gates in order to wait for the Inquisitor, it’s true,” Vivienne admitted, looking up at both the Iron Bull and Sera with an arched brow and a thin smile, “to demand why she thought it would be a grand idea to ransack my personal storage, or if you would require me to be more accurate, why she thought a grand idea would to have  _you_  ransack my personal storage?”

Iron Bull placed a hand on her shoulder, the weight of it heavy enough to make her slouch slightly, “I’ll help you dispose of her favourite dyes if you’d like? Being stuck in Skyhold has left my fingers twitchy, no mayhem, nothing. It’s a damn tragedy.”

“What did Quill ever do to you?!” Sera exclaimed with a fierce laugh, fist coming down to knock Bull on the top of his head that ended up with both of them wrestling wildly as Vivienne watched them both with a roll of her eyes.

Children at best.

The sound of the horn blasting from the top of Skyhold and the clinking of the gates opening brought Vivienne back to her senses that had been lost in watching the argument between Sera and Bull, directing her back to focus on the arrival of Cullen and his troops leading the Inquisition’s cavalry towards the entrance and of course, the Inquisitor’s own entourage following closely behind with what seemed to be about fifty troops of Avvar warriors in their ranks.

Cassandra however was at the front of it all, her mighty armour glinting brightly in the ferociously hot sun.

Quill sat on top of her mount and looked to be talking to Cole riding next to her when Vivienne finally caught her attention, the elf’s face brightening instantly and her discussion with Cole dwindled until the spirit simply shrunk back on his own mount in order to distance himself from the elven Inquisitor whom was now waving wildly at Vivienne, Sera and Bull.

“You’re not dead then!” Bull called out to her with a laugh.

“Of course not! I’m too clever for that!” Vivenne heard the Inquisitor shout back, only to be talked over by the Seeker who, as Vivienne had always admired for doing so, seemed to be ‘correcting’ the Inquisitor’s usual exaggeration of the tales of their journey.

“If you mean falling halfway down a ghast hole big enough to fit five of her down there, then yes, she really is far too clever for that,” Cassandra corrected in her usual dry tone, nodding at Vivienne with a smile that was usually very rare to pull from the Seeker’s lips, “Madame de Fer, I hope you’ve been well.”

Her eyes moved to address the Qunari and elf next to Vivienne, her glare enough to make Vivienne smile to herself at what she knew was next to come.

“You two as well?”

Sera saluted from on top of Iron Bull’s soldiers, her grin infectious, “Certainly!”

“We live to please Seeker!”

Cassandra seemed satisfied and with a nod she urged her horse forward past the gate in order to make room for the Inquisitor’s entourage (which had managed to pull ahead to the front of the line) and Cullen’s troops, leaving the grinning duo of fools along beside Vivienne, whom only shook her head at the pair of them.

When Quill finally did arrive she stopped her horse near enough that Vivienne had to take a step back with a sigh, not willing to dirty her robes for anyone even if she did have a bone to pick with a certain elven Inquisitor. One that was sitting on her mount in front of her, grinning as though she was the cat who got the cream.

“Vivienne! It’s nice of you to come see me at the gate, if it’s any consideration,” Quill rambled, gesturing for those passing her to carry back on towards Skyhold as she did so, “I missed you too, though your letter in particular—”

“The elfroot, Inquisitor,” Vivienne held out a hand as she spoke, arching her brow at the look of dread that had spread over the elven mage’s face at the mention of the insufferable ingredient that had been the catalyst of this mess, “I will not be asking for it again.”

“Ah!” Vivienne took some pleasure that at long last Quill seemed to finally be addressing the situation at hand, even if it was with a smile that expressed she had something up her sleeve, “you mean… this elfroot?”

A whooshing sound was heard from behind her, the noise enough to have Vivienne on edge already only for that anxious rush to leave instantly when she saw Quill hold her hand out to catch a large bundle of roots and flowers that had come flying from the back of her pack that her horse saddled.

Quill grinned, throwing the bundle up in the air with a laugh that made her horse blow a near enough exasperated breath through his nostrils: “There are several other bundles of this in Cassandra’s pack, twice the amount that Sera took!”

Vivienne didn’t know what to say and only about managed to rest on her two feet when the elf threw her the bundle in her hands, unable to quite express the metaphorical sudden punch in her stomach at seeing the similar elfroot roots and petals that were tied together by a thin, elastic rope.

It was rare that words left her, but in this particular situation Vivienne found that words were hard to come by and it left her feeling particularly useless, unable to quite comprehend how she would be able to answer the Inquisitor who already seemed to think the damage was made up for, smile bright and her hand up again to wave at the rest of the people in Skyhold coming to greet her.

Words were fickle things, but they had helped her rise to such power her friends in the Circle had only dreamed of.

She had to try.

“Is that all?” Vivienne gestured to the bundle, her features sharpening into an unimpressed look that made the smile on the Inquisitor’s face falter and for her eyes to soften in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry Vivienne,” and  _ah_ , so there was that apology Vivienne had been waiting for, one that she knew was not easily pulled from the elf and for that reason alone did Vivienne accept it - because once you knew how Lavellan was, her stubborn pride in refusing to apologize even when she was wrong, an apology was all one expected. “I genuinely did forget to fill up my own storage before we left, it was just in case there was an emergency that I asked Sera to break into your room and steal – you know, I’m honestly seeing why you’re so angry, yes, indeed, hm.”

Well, it seemed as though the Inquisitor was full of pleasant surprises.

“An apology and no look of insincerity whilst doing so,” Vivienne said with a tilt of her chin upwards to show off her satisfied smile that did wonders in making the freckled elf blush slightly under her stare, “did you fall from your horse and hit your head on the way here, Inquisitor? It is so unlike you, my dear.”

Sera snickered behind her and Quill herself looked down at her hands wrapped around the reins of her horse with a defeated sigh.

“Vivienne please—” She started to say, but Vivienne cut her off with a wave of her hand and with a delicate step (the finest wyvern leather in all of Orlais adorned her feet, she was not getting that dirty for anyone, not even Quill) towards the chestnut brown stallion that the Inquisitor sat on to reach for the reins, grabbing the elf’s hand as she did so.

“I suppose your apology will have to suffice, despite your half-hearted attempt of following up after it,” and then with a moment’s consideration she picked up the top of her skirts with one hand whilst the other held onto Quill’s arm to give her balance enough to place her foot on the stirrup and lift her leg over until she too was on the horse, elfroot still in her hand that had gripped onto the Inquisitor’s arm, “in all honesty, it’s like teaching a child manners; ones that you should know already, Inquisitor.”

“You shemlen,” Quill responded with a moody roll of her eyes and shoulders, slowly tugging at the reins to urge her horse forward, “manners this, manners that! No wonder you’re always warring one another over something as stickly as manners.”

Vivienne didn’t deem a response to that, instead she patted the other woman on the hand gently, “Yes my dear, we’re all absolutely appalling, however we apologize to one another with the sickliest, most devious smile and sleep well at night. I would suggest you attempt to do the same.”

The Inquisitor’s eyes widened and she turned to look over at Vivienne with an offended look on her face, “But I do mean it! I’m sorry about the elfroot, it won’t happen again!”

Vivienne didn’t know how else she could make it clearer to Quill that she was teasing her, the mage was clever and it made her ego swell to a large amount, yet she struggled with the simple things and it made her wonder how the elf’s life before had impacted on that, how she maybe had simply not had the time for these simple things and in reality her only comfort and source of peace had been her work.

It hurt her to realize that if that was the truth, then perhaps they were more similar than either either would have liked to admit.

She would not tell Quill this, nor would she ask about it. Vivienne had… she had the Circle to think of, a Circle that the elven mage had never been part of, had never even heard in terms of the Circle outside of the Tevinter Imperium.

Vivienne would not be the one to educate her, Maker, she didn’t even know if Quill knew about the Circle outside of Tevinter or not, she had merely assumed that she hadn’t with the life of a magister’s apprentice being sown into her identity since she had been born.

Instead she patted the elf’s hand around the reins again, clearing her throat, “Inquisitor, you tire me with this conversation, take me back to Skyhold where you can help with unpacking my elfroot back into the storage where it belongs.”

A sound of disgust made Vivienne swell with affection, one that she was still finding it hard to get used to with the knowledge that it was the Inquisitor for Maker’s sake, and Quill, of all people.

“Isn’t bringing you the damned things enough? I have to unpack it too? Vivienne with all due—”

“Your apology is starting to lose its meaningfulness, Inquisitor…”

“Oh fine! I’ll help you unpack it too, by the Old Gods…” Quill lifted her hand up in the air, her fingers reaching for the elfroot Vivienne had in her hands, “You humans can’t do anything without an elf helping…”


End file.
